Lisa McPherson in the News

After six years, it finally appeared the wrongful death suit against the Church of Scientology was headed for trial, but a clearly frustrated judge postponed the highly publicized case once again, probably for at least several months. Schaeffer granted the delay so the church could appeal her earlier ruling that Ken Dandar should not be disqualified as attorney for the estate of Lisa McPherson, the church member who died in 1995 after 17 days in the care of Scientologists in Clearwater.

A civil wrongful-death lawsuit, itself now almost 5 years old, alleges church workers let McPherson die Dec. 5, 1995, in the Fort Harrison Hotel, where she spent the last 17 days of her life being cared for by fellow Scientologists. The lawsuit contends that church staffers allowed McPherson, 36, to become so dehydrated she was too weak even to stop cockroaches from biting her. Paperwork alone has swelled to near epic proportions. The case now sports 194 volumes - stacked up, they're as tall as a two-story building.

How to explain the mental nose dives of the medical examiner and the chief circuit judge when they were confronted with the story of the slow, miserable death in 1995 of Scientologist Lisa McPherson at the Fort Harrison Hotel? This is the part I gag on: The Internal Revenue Service gave Scientology the tax-exempt protection of a religion. If what they do at Scientology headquarters in Clearwater is a religion, then I'm a planet. Saturn, say, rings and all.

In a ruling that stunned the Church of Scientology and its lawyers, a Hillsborough County judge said Friday that religious rights are not a central issue in the 1995 death of Scientologist Lisa McPherson. Hea also said it is not clear whether McPherson consented to her treatment by Scientology staffers before she died in their care. That question should be left to a jury, the judge said.